What we do to cultivate ourselves is what we do to govern the world. And when trust disappears, chaos appears. The reason the people turn to love and praise or fear and hate is because those above cannot be trusted.

The mistake of loving and praising, fearing and despising does not rest with the people but with those above. When those above treat those below with dishonesty, those below respond with deceit.

These notes on verse 17 are included in Red Pine’s translation of the Tao Te Ching: Red Pine’s translation: During the High Ages people knew they were there Stephen Mitchell’s translation: When the Master governs, the people Since translations are always an abstraction of the original text, I hope that comparing different translations provides you with a better sense of the meaning behind the text. I’ve provided three different English translations of this passage. I will allow the text to directly impart its message to you. As such, I hesitate to explain what I think you should conclude. According to Taoism and Zen, words are a fundamentally problematic and limited form of communication. In this verse, Lao-Tzu is discussing the characteristics of a true leader.

This advice comes from verse 17 of the Tao Te Ching. Today I want to share some wonderful leadership advice courtesy of Lao-Tzu (~500BC), the founder of Taoism. Um, wow.Īs you can imagine, the Tao te Ching is brimming with wisdom and Big Ideas.As I mentioned in the lessons learned from the software architecture workshop, we can draw inspiration and lessons from all over. According to Wikipedia, he’s done translations in German, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Danish as well as interpretative versions of works in Chinese, Sanskrit and ancient Babylonian. Mitchell is a remarkable guy in his own right. I went with Stephen Mitchell’s simple pocket version for this Note because a) it’s a great intro if you’re new to Lao Tzu/Taoism and, b) I love the fact that Mitchell is married to Byron Katie and that they co-wrote Loving What Is ( see Notes) and A Thousand Names for Joy together! (How cool is that?!? :) There are a lot of translations out there. The Tao te Ching : A classic of spiritual literature and the central text of Taoism.Īlthough the text’s authorship and date of composition continues to be debated, tradition holds that it was written by the great master, Lao Tzu, in the 6th century BCE (roughly the same time Buddha was rockin’ Nepal/India, Confucius was getting his wisdom on in another part of China and not too long before Socrates was getting his toga + hemlock on in Athens).

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu